Added 3 case fans and now my GPU runs HOTTER

Goose

Goose

Goose

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I have CM 690 II case and until today I had one intake fan, 1 top exhaust and 1 rear exhaust and my GPU was about 26c when idle. This morning I added 1 extra top exhaust and 2 intakes on my side panel blowing directly onto the gfx card.

And now, for some weird reason, my GPU is idling at about 41c! As you can imagine, i'm rather puzzled by this.


Thoughts?
 
More is not always better. especially if that are installed on multi sides
remove the side fans and block the holes then recheck your temps.

The ideal is all fan pointing in the same direction - most typically front in - back out.
as this works with the psu and gpu fans.

Fans on side panel are in most cases a bad option as it just mixes up the hot internal air, instead of directing out the case.

EDIT: which way up do you have the psu. if upside down fan on bottom (aka air in via floor and out via back)
or standard way - fan on top

which direction is your cpu fan?
which direction is your 460 fan? (up and out if it's the one in your sig)
Does the optical bay have a fan? direction?

my guess is air was moving front (adj hhd) to top left - coolest to hotest
now with the side fans air is getting traped between the cards

Edit 2: also where is the air on the side of you case coming from?
if the case is againest the wall you may be pulling hot air from behind the case, back into it
 
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Sometimes adding the fans in the wrong places may mess up the airflow within the case. Change the directions around and see what's best for you.
 
The best test to show correct fan placement in ATX cases is this.

Temps low with side panel on
Temps higher with side panel off.

If your temps drop with the side panel off, you've got the cooling wrong or a naff case.

Smaller cases are different, but midi mid mini tower should work better closed
 
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Well, this is both weird and extremely frustrating. I've disconnected the two side panel fans so now the only change since yesterday is the addition of a second top exhaust. The card is still idling at 41c.

I got the card on tuesday and it has until this morning been idling on 26-29. I dont understand how it can jump 13c over night for no obvious reason.
 
by disconnected do you mean turned off or removed from the case?
the fan bodies may be blocking air flow.

was there something you removed or moved to install the fans - cables, blanking plate, plastic film, VGA card bracket.

Gpu bios update - that only now after a reboot taken effect?

has the 460 fan profile been changed - i find msi afterburner can change my fan % from my saved profile of 40% too auto or 50% when opening the application sometimes.

Is the fan running slower (quieter) than yesterday

did the fan install 'nudge' the gpu cooler - may have reduced contact?

Is the cpu doing something / stress testing the chip / rad / hdd activity? all adding to the internal ambient temp.

Is the sun shining on your base unit, is it nearer a window, is the window open, heating on, etc, etc (based on above I guess this is a no)

edit: last one - has your temp monitoring programme / mobo bios been updated last night?
 
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shadowscotland said:
The best test to show correct fan placement in ATX cases is this.

Temps low with side panel on
Temps higher with side panel off.

If your temps drop with the side panel off, you've got the cooling wrong or a naff case.

Smaller cases are different, but midi mid mini tower should work better closed
Click to expand...

I have a full tower case in sig, and my temps are better with the side off.
What am I doing wrong?

Ambient temp in room is around 26c.
 
Serial45 said:
I have a full tower case in sig, and my temps are better with the side off.
What am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

My guess is it's sitting on carpet - the cosmos has odd cooling.
needs to be on a desk or hard floor really, also there are lots of 'dead' spots of static air.
Add the sound dampening (insulation) and you get a hot internal enviroment.

Need a full spec and pic's to help more - start a thread if they are massively higher.

Oh and your not alone - if you have hot or lot's of hardware it's easy to not maximise your cooling.
That doesn't mean you've got it wrong btw - just it may be possable to make it better.
 
Are the sure your comparison of the "idle temp" before and after is on fair ground though? Cause idle temp shortly after the PC boot up and idle temp after the PC been left on for a day or shortly after some gaming sections could be quite different.

What size is the fans you using on the side-panel? If it is a 140mm, I would suggest you move the top one to the bottom middle intake (yea I know both the manual and the CM website says it is for a 120mm fan, but strangely it is for fitting a 140mm intake fan in reality...I moved the default top 140mm exhaust fan that comes with my 690II Advanced down there to use as an intake), and by place the intake fan there, it helps lower the temp for my card by a bit (but bare in mind that my 9800GTX+ is a blower type cooler, so the bottom intake would deliver cool air right into the blower cooler's air-intake).

Some pic here:

My fanspeed profile for my 9800GTX+ is set at 40% (lowest speed I can set in MSI Afterburner) at below 50C. The idle temp for my card is 35C shortly after boot up, 38-40C average, and 42C sometimes. So I really don't think you should be bothered too much about idle temp...keeping load temp low is what important.
 
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shadowscotland said:
by disconnected do you mean turned off or removed from the case?
the fan bodies may be blocking air flow.

was there something you removed or moved to install the fans - cables, blanking plate, plastic film, VGA card bracket.

Gpu bios update - that only now after a reboot taken effect?

has the 460 fan profile been changed - i find msi afterburner can change my fan % from my saved profile of 40% too auto or 50% when opening the application sometimes.

Is the fan running slower (quieter) than yesterday

did the fan install 'nudge' the gpu cooler - may have reduced contact?

Is the cpu doing something / stress testing the chip / rad / hdd activity? all adding to the internal ambient temp.

Is the sun shining on your base unit, is it nearer a window, is the window open, heating on, etc, etc (based on above I guess this is a no)

edit: last one - has your temp monitoring programme / mobo bios been updated last night?
Click to expand...

I uninstalled Afterburner and the Nvidia drivers (then reinstalled). I've also undone everything i did this morning. Now, with both side panels currently off the GPU temp is now idling at 28-20c, so almost back to what it was.

If its of any interest, the changes i made this morning to my case are as follows;

Added two Enermax 120m fans to side panel (intake)
Added 2nd 120m fan to top exhaust
Removed Bottom HDD cage to aid airflow
Plugged 2nd monitor (old 17" jobby)

And all that added up to more than a 10c rise GPU idle temp.
 
Goose said:
Plugged 2nd monitor (old 17" jobby)
Click to expand...

That's probably the offender right there.

Not sure about Nvidia but ATI/AMD cards certainly clock up to 3D speeds when using a second monitor.

Check your GPU idle clock speed and see what is says. Remove the 2nd monitor and see if it reacts to the change and shifts speed.

The good news is that you should be able to manually set the 2D/3D profile using a third party application ( I use ATI Tray Tool).
 
Ah right. What's this business about 3d though? I'm probably being spectacularly thick but surely it's just for 3d monitors? Why would it be effecting my card when neither are 3d.

And when you say 'clock up' do mean its overclocks?

Thanks for the help and I can only apologise for being really dumb :)
 
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